Melanoma News and Research

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Melanoma is a form of cancer that begins in melanocytes (cells that make the pigment melanin). It may begin in a mole (skin melanoma), but can also begin in other pigmented tissues, such as in the eye or in the intestines.

Study reveals melanoma is associated with a chemical conversion in DNA

According to recent research, the mutations giving rise to melanoma are the outcome of a chemical conversion in DNA triggered by sunlight.

3 Aug 2021

Study: Biomarker can predict response to immunotherapies in breast cancer patients

A biomarker that has proven to be a predictor for response to immunotherapies in melanoma patients also has clinical relevance for breast cancer patients, according to a new study published in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

28 Jul 2021

New study could prevent T cell exhaustion in the immune system’s fight against cancer

Struggling against a tumor is not a sprint. It is a marathon. The race of cancer-fighting T cells is at times simply very long, and the T cells give up fighting. This phenomenon is referred to as T cell exhaustion by researchers.

21 Jul 2021

New method can improve the efficacy of promising treatment for recurrent glioblastoma

A promising treatment for melanoma and other types of cancers is neoadjuvant immune checkpoint blockade (ICB).

1 Jul 2021

Presence of certain stem cells correlates with non-genetic resistance mechanisms to cancer drugs

Cancer cells can develop resistance to therapy through both genetic and non-genetic mechanisms. But it is unclear how and why one of these routes to resistance prevails.

18 Jun 2021

Natural killer cells target breast cancer using the body’s immune system

In a recent study, researchers investigated how natural killer cells target breast cancer using the body's own immune system.

18 Jun 2021

Commonly used antidepressant drugs can also help the immune system to attack cancer

A class of drug called monoamine oxidase inhibitors is commonly prescribed to treat depression; the medications work by boosting levels of serotonin, the brain's "happiness hormone."

10 Jun 2021

New insights on how synovial sarcoma develops and spreads

A new study published today in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, reports findings that may change the understanding of how synovial sarcoma develops and spreads.

7 Jun 2021

Immune therapy after surgery reduces recurrence risk in patients with high-risk melanoma

Patients with high-risk melanoma who had a course of pembrolizumab after their surgery had a longer time before their disease recurred than patients who got either ipilimumab or high-dose interferon after surgery. These findings of a large SWOG Cancer Research Network clinical trial, S1404, will be presented at the ASCO annual meeting June 6, 2021.

4 Jun 2021

Study: Turning off molecular switch could help treat melanoma

Melanoma accounts for only about 1% of skin cancers but leads to most of the skin cancer-related deaths.

20 May 2021

Cancer immunotherapy patients experience potentially life-threatening side effects

Many patients with cancer receive immune checkpoint inhibitors that strengthen their immune response against tumor cells. While the medications can be life-saving, they can also cause potentially life-threatening side effects in internal organs.

13 Apr 2021

Study finds an amyloid link between melanoma and Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder and melanoma is a type of skin cancer but on the surface, these disorders do not seem to have much in common.

8 Apr 2021

Customized tumor cell vaccine produces active immune response in melanoma, neuroblastoma models

A pre-clinical study for melanoma and neuroblastoma shows that a customized tumor cell vaccine technique that targets Myc oncogenes coupled with checkpoint therapy produces an active immune response that bypasses antigen selection and immune privilege.

5 Apr 2021

Scientists identify new biomarkers in the blood of patients with malignant melanoma

A team of researchers has studied the molecular profile of small “messenger” vesicles called exosomes, produced by cancer stem cells (CSCs), which play a key role in the process of carcinogenesis and metastasis in the blood of patients with malignant melanoma.

26 Mar 2021

Study shows how a subset of T cells is generated in melanoma survivors affected by vitiligo

A few patients suffering from melanoma are known to respond quite well to immunotherapy and experience significant and long-lasting tumor regression.

25 Mar 2021

Novel vaccine uses patient's own tumor cells to train the immune system to fight cancer

Immunotherapy, which recruits the body's own immune system to attack cancer, has given many cancer patients a new avenue to treat the disease.

25 Mar 2021

Bacteria residing within tumor cells may boost cancer immunotherapy

Cancer immunotherapy may get a boost from an unexpected direction: bacteria residing within tumor cells. In a new study published in Nature, researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science and their collaborators have discovered that the immune system "sees" these bacteria and shown they can be harnessed to provoke an immune reaction against the tumor.

23 Mar 2021

Low representation of minority groups in genomic databases may impact therapy selection

Low representation of minority groups in public genomic databases may affect therapy selection for Black patients with cancer, according to new Mayo Clinic research published in npj Precision Oncology.

22 Mar 2021

Immune cells in cerebrospinal fluid could be biomarkers to predict immunotherapy response

Results from a study led by Joan Seoane, Director of Preclinical and Translational Research co-program at VHIO and ICREA Professor, show that immune cells accessing cerebrospinal fluid faithfully recapitulate the characteristics of cells identified in brain metastasis, and could therefore constitute novel biomarkers of response to immune-based therapies.

9 Mar 2021

Research provides new insight into the way cells adapt to fight infection

WEHI researchers have uncovered a process cells use to fight off infection and cancer that could pave the way for precision cancer immunotherapy treatment.

From Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) 4 Mar 2021